Keep up to date with the game's top 10 players in both the Official World Golf Rankings (men) and Rolex World Golf Rankings (women)
The Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) is a system used to rate the performance levels of male professional golfers. It was first introduced in 1986 and is endorsed by the four major championships and six professional golf tours, these are the PGA Tour, European Tour, Asian Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, Japan Golf Tour and the Sunshine Tour.
- Quiz: Can you name every male player to reach World No 1?
- Quiz: Can you name every female player to reach World No 1?
How are the World Golf Rankings calculated?
The system used to calculate the rankings can be confusing.
Golfers receive points based on their performance and the quality of the event that they are playing in. Points remain on a player’s tally for two years but are reduced on a sliding scale of 13 weeks so more recent success carries a greater weighting.
A player’s points tally is calculated by dividing the number of points by the number of events they have played in over the two year period with a minimum of 40 events needed to obtain a ranking. The World Golf Rankings are updated every Monday.
How the world golf rankings will change from 2022
After a lengthy review process, the Official World Golf Ranking will change to a new system from next year.
One of the main changes to the system will see ranking points awarded to all players who make the cut in a tournament using a strength of field rating. This will use a statistical evaluation of every player in that particular tournament, rather than just those ranked in the top 200.
This means pro tours will also no longer be handed extra points for so-called “flagship events” – like the European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship, for example – though the Players at TPC Sawgrass will still carry 80 points for the winner. Major championships will continue to award 100 points.
“What these reviews revealed was that through the use of assigned values in its strength-of-field calculation, which includes tour minimums, flagship tournaments and the home tour rating, there was some level of bias in the system,” said Bill Schroder of the OWGR technical committee. “Which means there was some level of performances that were either being undervalued or overvalued.”
The start date for the new system is August 14, 2022 – though it will still operate on a two-year cycle, meaning any changes will not come into effect until 2024.
Men’s World Golf Rankings: Top 10
After 826 days away from the top spot, Rory McIlroy is now World No 1 again following an enthralling title defence at the CJ Cup. The Northern Irishman has now held top spot nine times.
World No 1: Rory McIlroy
World No 2: Scottie Scheffler
World No 3: Cameron Smith
World No 4: Patrick Cantlay
World No 5: Jon Rahm
World No 6: Xander Schauffele
World No 7: Will Zalatoris
World No 8: Justin Thomas
World No 9: Viktor Hovland
World No 10: Matt Fitzpatrick
- Visit the Official World Golf Rankings website for more
Women’s World Golf Rankings: Top 10
Lydia Ko’s 18th(!) LPGA victory means she returns to World No 1 for the first time since 2017. She replaces Nelly Korda, who had risen to top spot just months after taking time away from the game due to a blood clot.
World No 1: Lydia Ko
World No 2: Nelly Korda
World No 3: Atthaya Thitikul
World No 4: Minjee Lee
World No 5: Jin Young Ko
World No 6: Brooke Henderson
World No 7: Lexi Thompson
World No 8: In Gee Chun
World No 9: Nasa Hataoka
World No 10: Hyo Joo Kim
- Visit the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings website for more
